KUDDOS FOR KEYBOARD TOWN PALS!!

Hello Donna and the KBTP family,

What a wonderful little piece of software! My Down Syndrome son who is 12 immediately was taken by the warm and charming characters (rather reminiscent of Sesame,  so familiar to him, in a way) and wanted to sit down and watch the whole thing through.

Once that was done he had no problem following directions (with me by his side as a prompter) and was able to finish one hand (left) in an hour long session.

I will say that for a Down Syndrome individual or an individual with impaired cognitive and motor ability, it might be a little too fast...I remedied this by pressing the pause button until he was ready for the next piece of info. Not really a problem but something to consider if there is a re-issue for a special needs version.

Also we took an hour on just one hand...which we actually had to break into two sessions because of attention and fatigue issues.

We practiced one hand, watching the sessions over until I felt comfortable with it and then went to the other hand, following the same daily pattern.

Result: IN ABOUT A 10  DAY PERIOD OF TIME, MY DOWN SYNDROME SON HAS LEARNED ALL HIS FINGER POSITIONS WITH 98% ACCURACY. HE CAN NOW TYPE AT 5WPM.

This does not mean that he has the speed but the basic "how to" is there...and I credit KBTP for this.

Now we use another typing program, for the practice, speed and the games. He asks for KBTP almost daily and we now use it as a brush-up program or just for fun...

The interesting thing is that he asks for KBTP almost daily and goes through it at a much faster speed than at the beginning. Also, when he is on the other typing program and just doing his lessons, he tells himself where to put his fingers for each key USING KBTP CHARACTERS...isn't that cool...!

He is writing 10 - 12 sentence paragraphs on subjects that interest him. Writing will probably never be his forte so typing is a wonderful option for him. Once he writes his creative writing he proceeds to type it!

I would like to add that my operating system was not being very cooperative with the KBTP CD version and two wonderful people stayed with me and my trials until we made it work. Thank you Donna and Dan for your patience.!

Now I am waiting for a Mac version of the CD so that my son Robin can keep on using it on his MacBook at school.

Thank you again for a wonderful program!

Keep up the awesome work!

Gri and Robin Buongiorne

Thankfulness

By Anonymous

Start the day with a thankful attitude. It's in the Bible, Psalm 92:1-2, TLB. "It is good to say thank you to the Lord, to sing praises to the God who is above all gods. Every morning tell him, 'Thank you for Your kindness,' and every evening rejoice in all His faithfulness."
One of the first marks of rejecting God is forgetting to thank him. It's in the Bible, Romans 1:21, TLB. "Yes, they knew about Him all right, but they wouldn't admit it or worship Him or even thank Him for all his daily care. And after awhile they began to think up silly ideas of what God was like and what He wanted them to do. The result was that their foolish minds became dark and confused."
Give thanks in every situation. It's in the Bible, I Thessalonians 5:18, NIV. "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
In giving thanks to God; don't forget from where our blessings come. It's in the Bible, Psalms 103: 2, NIV. "Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits."

Copyright © 2009, Bibleinfo.com

BOTTOM LINE: BE THANKFUL....IT'S IN THE BIBLE...

Famous Quotes Widgets

Famous Quotes Widgets

HI FROM THE LAND OF THE FROZEN CHOSEN...RECENT EVENTS...

Hi Folks

Well our annual cattle run came and went. This time I ventured out myself, clad in my snopants and other cold weather equipment...Robin had been invited by our cowman Tommy G and I wanted to make sure that he wld be safe.

It was really a great experience! Not too cold, and nice enough that I was able to take some pics and clips without freezing my fingers off. It is pretty self explanatory. Annie got to ride a big black horse which I call Black Knight, he does put one in mind of those LOTR Friesians...without the feathers. It was good for her to get the experience and all the young folks did well I think...nobody fell off or was hurt. Thankful for that!

Rob started out at the back of TG's truck and then got to ride Jared's big red sled with some of the younger kids. Eventually he got a ride with Kelly on her snomach. Kelly was very sweet and attentive and made sure Rob was safe (she is one of my Spanish students in 9th grade).

Cows kept wanting to go the opposite way but we got them across the highway, always rather a nail biting experience, where one hopes no semis come tearing down the highway just as we are crossing. All went smoothly....now we are all being treated to the cows bellowing for their calves since they have to be separated and weaned.

A good time was had by all!

Our chickens are starting to lay again...yaaaiii..

Some late visitors are coming and going, but don't know who all they are really....pretty much back to normal winter farm routines and school....

Some folks are out visiting family in the L48 still. ..'course May, Rachel and Pat have all left to visit in the UK and Ireland. May has called a couple times, Pat called once and talked to May who was still here. I missed some of those calls, either in school or in town...

May is keeping busy or being kept busy as the case may be!! haha...mulching gardens, working in he kitchen getting stuff prepared for their yearly convention...Ray says she is rather homesick but I'm sure it will pass. I miss her badly and keep thinking she is gonna come in the backdoor as she usually does, all bundled up from her traipsing around the snow outside, with a cheery : "Hello Mother"....

Glad that she is getting this chance and hope she does and sees as much as poss.

Pat has finally met Beth's family and there are some cute pics of all of them on FB. Wld be nice to meet in person...one of these days.

Big Pat has returned form his Glennallen and Sapa piano trip and all went well. Weather is still holding to a pleasant temp. for Alaska at this time of the year...still not using our real heavy stuff...

Nov. will be a busy therapy week for myself and Rob. We've already had the OT, PT, SLP and of course his new Sped. Margie Grant  who is a reall answer..giving me new ideas and things to do with Rob. Rob is now starting to type with both hands. He is using a great little program I found and which has won several awards. KEYBOARD TOWN PALS...based on a Sesame type character approach. so far so good. He needs speed now and I think this will really start him being more interested in creative writing. Handwriting continues to be laborious for him, but typing is something that will motivate him.

 Hope u all hv a great rest of the week!!

Here a short clip!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yhn-7ctFGI

here snow, there snow, everywhere snow, snow...

Well, when it rains it pours as the English like to say....well, the Spaniards do too, but they say it somewhat differently...
Has snowed 14-in. so far...and our young boys are madly trying to keep the roads, paths, decks, porches and other areas which do not need to be snowbound, clear of snow....hard to do with the fine drizzle, well....just drizzling....
Snow covers a multitude of - left-over-trash-that-we-forgot-to-pick-up....and so everything is nice and white...that is one of the pros..
One of the cons, is that it can get rather messy in the school vestibule with a dozen small and medium sized bodies leaving all THEIR winter gear, just where you want to leave YOURS!! oh well...here comes the mop lady (Sara J) to mop up the wetness of 12 pairs of packs....oops stepped in the snow puddle with my socks...ugh...wet for the rest of the class....
But on the whole a good time is had by all...well...the kids at least...

Rob took out his bright orange snopants and bright orange mad bomber hat and has been rolling about in the stuff for the past week....as are all the rest of the junior population.

The flame orange for Rob is done on purpose. Against the white snow I can see him clear across the horse paddocks where he likes to ride about on the horse wagon. During summer months he is equipped with a radio tracker belt and walkie talkie, but now we manage very well with the flame orange. Found it at the Cabelas hunting online store.


Here's Rob doing his sno angel on the fresh snow outside the schoolhouse...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGjMeR4UBOM


Pat Lou left today on his first leg of the journey .. May leaving Tuesday...Both off to the Old Country. Pat to visit his sweetie in the UK who is finishing a degree and May to Ireland. After her return she plans to join the AF...Pat is still unsure of what he wants to do, probably something in the Emergency Medical arena, since he got his EMT 3  certs. as has May...decisions, decisions...was life this complicated when I was growing up? Can't remember, I certainly don't recall having as many choices...

Big Pat is off to southern coastal Alaska tuning and repairing pianos all along the way. Hopefully weather and road conditions will make for a propitious business trip. Don't like  him having to leave at the worst time of the year...but this is when clients and schools want their ailing pianofortes doctored, it seems. He stays with friends, communities and customers along the way, sometimes exchanging bed and breakfast for a tuning. Seems to have worked so far.

BUT, that means that self, Annie (16) and Rob must handle all the rather labour intensive chores at the cabin. Wood boxes, stoves, water hauling. Now that Rob is older he can help his sister with some of this which will be a break for my ailing shoulder....will make me appreciate my DH more...he does so much...and so does May....she supervises Rob's self help skills and helps with his showers etc. When she leaves Dad will take over with some of those, but for this week Annie says she will pitch in...we shall see....

My school days are coming along nicely. I enjoy teaching SStudies to Micah (mild CP) and Rob, we are doing Colonial America from BJU using a Gr. 2 textbook. Finished the Continents and Oceans Unit, and they enjoyed that. The rest of the academics I do with Rob alone, and Micah is taught his by his mom...lucky boys I think. Both boys then takes Art, Music and Science with another teacher...gives us both a break from our boys and they get a new teacher ....they need a break from us too!! . Is working well so far.

HS Spanish is also doing well. My 8 students seem to be enjoying it and, of course, I do too, always enjoy coming back to my roots, don't get much of a chance of practicing my Spanish.  We have not had many traveling Spanish preachers lately...one does tend to get rusty.

Some of the boys are trying to get the ice rink ready for hockey and skating. It is rather large and does not seem to be freezing as fast as they would like...this is something that kids all enjoy. I never did learn how to skate but am trying to teach Rob...his balance is pretty good so I think he will probably catch one soon.

May and Pat were invited to a costume party at one of the family cabins last night. Pat came up with an Arab costume complete with dagger, turban and Tunisian cape...looked quite the part and May dressed up as a Viking warrior. She has so many daggers and swords accumulated these past few years that she found it hard to decide which one to use. May loves the Tolkien Middle Earth mythical stuff....so has quite a collection, some she purchases and some she makes herself. Pat is actually wearing a genuine Tunisian akhnif, a wool hooded cape worm by the Berber herdsmen...the gun is his air-soft gun...looks the part don't u think? His little bro def. thinks so...

and here is May in her Middle Earth/Viking costume she created herself. Made the sword and leather trappings. She is sporting her new longbow and the arrows she just finished fletching. May has really enjoyed her longbow this summer and is getting quite good with it....I find squirrel pellets taped to backwoods spruce trees...ugh...but they really can be pests, very destructive and a nuisance with the trash...May is much in demand in camp as a squirrel exterminator...when the pop. get to be a nuisance.

May will be sorely missed...she does so much for me...but I know she will have a lifetime experience and am praying that her time in Ireland will bring her a larger outlook in life and make her new friends.

Will seem weird not having the 2 big kids with us....

Annie has been featured in the North Dakota Center for Distance Education Program. She is taking an advanced course in drawing and her instructor Annette Marchand has been encouraging her to do her best...some of her work is featured here at this link:

http://www.ndcde.org/news/current/09-10-26/Anne_Marie_Buongiorne.aspx

it has hit 3 degrees...getting colder....

Well folks, this is Alaska Nightly, signing out...

Have a great week!

"Hello people,

Last night I came home from supper and was working away on my pictures and computers, never realizing that it had started to snow for real outside. It was such a shock to me when my kids came home, and they were tracking in snow. By this morning, we have gotten a approximately three inches of nice wet snow. And, it is 26°.

Also last night, Peter and Stacey invited the world down to Lisa Lake to skate and have s’mores around a bon fire. Everyone that was there said they had so much fun. Guess I should’ve gone out." Well my kids had fun...although May did not go since she is still feeling poorly with this flu thing and Annie had too much homework, but the boys went and came back rather wet but happy....
later...have a great Monday (ahummm...well, try to,anyhoo...not a Monday person, can u tell?? :)

HIYA folks...

Hi!  We still don’t have snow – that seems so weird!  It might snow this weekend.  We’ll see.  It’s about 32° right now at 9:30 pm.  Today was sorta gray and dreary. 

We had a family meeting tonight to discuss what we’d like to spend our money on.  It was a short meeting.  Everyone was in goofy moods so there was a lot of laughing and jokes.  It was a pleasant family meeting esp for having to discuss money and budgets, etc.

I think that some of the PDF will be given for building and food supplies. A new Tabernacle building was discussed but location is not clear yet...that will be a major undertaking considering that the building houses our communal kitchen and mess hall plus church hall...I think we have 50 grand saved and need 3 times that amount...haha...we shall see...

Bill, Kathy, and Joey went to visit family in the states for a couple of weeks. Joe is missing a whole week of my Spanish class...oh well...

May still recup from nasty flu...she needs to get better before she leaves for Ireland, flying with an ear ache is murderous as I hv found out....she is getting better. Some of us gals hv ordered bulk silver colloid...and it seems to be working better than the stuff I make myself...stronger probably...funnily enough it is called Argentyn 123....course Argentina comes from the Conquistadors thinking that the River Plata ( silver) was a sea of silver and argentina comes from argentium....Iegend goes that the sun shone on the vast river and made it look like silver...for those who don't know I was born in Argentina, hence the cultural clip here...sorry to bore u...:)

anyhoo she is drinking the stuff often (actually just using droppers) and also in her ears...does not want to go the run of antibiotics...good girl...but slow in healing...letting the body heal itself...now that she is an EMT 3 she tells me all about medical stuff...hopes to get into paramedic/PA stuff via the Air force...we shall see..

Pat has been in Tok brushing up on his EMT skills and his EMT 3 certs came in today, so proud of him! He is also leaving in 2 weeks for a month in the UK to visit his sweetheart...they met this summer in Macarthy/Cordova...etc. a very lovely girl....we shall see...(have a said that before? hummm...)

Pat and Rob and about a dozen other kids, went out to Lisa Lake tonight to skate ...I think they took some trucks and drove all the way to the lake which is quite bumpy but that way they can use the headlights to light up the frozen lake...I know Rob will hv a good time with his big bro...Pat is such a good big bro...I just don't hv the energy to do that sort of thing! All I managed today was a 30 ' bike ride with Rob down the taxiway and back...he beat me! At least we got outside in the lovely cool, crisp, rapidly freezing weather!! was good for us! ...Still not home as I write...tomorrow Monday...ugh...always hard start to the school week...need an extra week- end day...haha!! Rob was so excited at being asked to go, had his packs, snopants, headlamp, gloves, skates, warm hat and mask, all ready to go..never saw him move that fast....just goes to show that he can go fast when he wants to!

Big Pat is on night watch this week which means he has to stoke 4 big wood furnaces to our main buildings....schools, Tab, wash house, forge and wood-shop. It is job but keeps him fit...not too nice when it is -20...he just told me that it is actually SNOWING!

wow finally....

Gotta run.  Have a great start of the week...

gri